us or we will not be able to teach. we need to involve teachers more. message not gotten the with teachers taking over state capitals, i think we should all understand. >> former house speaker john of ohio and former senate majority leader harry reid of nevada discuss a range of issues, including education and the future of work. watch the entire discussion tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. white houseannual correspondents association dinner, held in washington, d.c. this year's keynote speaker is historian and author roger now -- ron chernow.

[applause] >> [speaking french] everyone, was for my mother, a formidable frenchwoman we lost to cancer a year ago. i have bad news, i am delivering the whole speech, not just the four-page summary of its principal conclusions. i want to start by acknowledging our journalism award winners. congratulations and thank you for reminding us how vital a

free and independent news media is to the health of this republic. [applause] >> one thing this position teaches you is gratitude. i have a lot of thank you spewed thank you first of foremost my family and dear friends from near and far who came here tonight. thank you to all of the members of the white house correspondents association am a ,nd thank you to our guests republicans, democrats, men and women in uniform, united in support of the first amendment. [applause] in the rushinds me, bbedn adolescent -- ad-li punchline, i forgot a piece of business. ladies and gentlemen, to the first amendment.

board.ou to this and to my immediate predecessors. [applause] >> thank you to our executive director, who works miracles, and to allison, who makes sure he does not work too many miracles. ow, i you to ron chern cannot wait to hear you speak, sir. [applause] >> thank you to make and lieberman and serious xm -- support andr your opportunities. and to yahoo! news. [applause] and his you to greg team for overhauling our website, and american university for being our partners and a new project to encourage investigative journalism.

audience,t into the thank you to advocates from the committee to protect journalists , as well as the president of the national federation of black journalists. you,is a big one, thank thank you, thank you to the staff at the washington hilton. warmth,fessionalism and your attention to detail, have always made this a special event. in a very special thank you to someone whose counsel has steered us in the right direction, but whose particular talents got a particularly robust workout this year, our lawyer. [applause] >> when the white house stripped jim acosta of his credentials, i did the easy work of pointing out no president should pick and choose who covers him, while george did the hard work of filing our brief in support of

csn -- cnn. [applause] a that gets us in roundabout way to this president. i don't want to dwell on the president, this is not his dinner, it is ours and it should stay hours. but i do want to say this. in nearly 23 years as reporter, i've been physically assaulted by republicans and democrats, spit on, shoved, i've been told by senior officials of both parties i will never work in washington again. there was a brief moment in afghanistan when a soldier not shave, i enough to felt would shoot me for taking a picture in the presidential palace. career i celebrate my after february 2017, because that is when the president of the united states called as the enemies of the people.

later, i was driving my son somewhere and he burst in to tears and asked if donald trump was going to put me in prison. he said, at least on what josh is a good lawyer. i had to tell my family not to touch packages on our stoop. statement on a criticizing the president and i have had death threats, including one this week. too many of us had, and it should not need to be set in a room full of people who understand the power of news that fake news and enemies of the people are not pet names, punchlines, or presidential. [applause] >> and we should reject politically expedient assaults on the men and women whose hard work makes it possible to hold the powerful to account. [applause]

said, we cannot lose track of attacks on the free press in a global context. that it earlier i said would become important later? the pens were provided by reporters without borders. as an went to syria freelance journalist, but as he was mapping his departure, he was taken. a few months ago, i interviewed his parents about their son, and when they asked whether i would use this event to shine a light on his plate, it was easy to say yes. nned a letter to this room. "these take a moment to look around this room. you are his colleagues and in

his silence, austin needs your voice. we ask you to raise your voice from the newsroom to the white house, take every opportunity to emphasize the importance of a free press in respect of journalist. have no doubt when you act on this responsibility, you are heard and things happen. the public becomes more aware of the risks you take and is motivated to speak out with you. the halls of power echo and become channels of support. freeing detained journalists becomes a priority. your advocacy helps bring them home and we know it will hasten the day when we finally see our son walk free. we thank you for using your voices every day. we look forward to the day when austin will be here to thank you personally." [applause] >> so, here is what i would ask you to do. austin,r pen, think of

and pick another journalist anywhere in the world who has been targeted with violence, beaten, wrongfully imprisoned, retaliated against in some way. i am thinking of austin and two writers -- reu ters reporters. is --thly, the list unfortunately, the list is long and getting longer. when you pick a name to go with pen, or araise a glass. personally i think it is weird to honor journalists with a moment of silence. aroundof the journalists the world suffering for their craft. [applause] we should home,

recognize we face a crisis of information, or several crises in one. powerful corporate interests vacuum up our habits in the and dice them to extract masking -- maximum profit. broad swaths of the public mistrust the news media, making it difficult to make decisions to share fax. skepticism of any powerful institution, including ours, is necessary. i am forever mindful of the wisdom from the great mark ler of cbsmark no radio, who said after a 2004 campaign rally that featured a hostile welcome to the news media, he said, i am one of us and i don't like us very much. [laughter] >> you should keep that in mind. we should all keep in mind that

a rejection more of reflex but not reflection is dangerous. what is also dangerous is the erosion of local and regional reporting. [applause] that is why i am so please highlight the partnership with the university of florida college of communications to create an award, the collier price for state has accountability. it gets its name from the founder of collier's weekly, who i think is here. if you're here, please stand. [applause] >> thank you. together, we will give an annual prize of $25,000 for the best piece of investigative and political journalism focused on trust and accountability in state government and we will honor the winner at a state dinner.

considering the magnitude of the problem, it is not a solution but i hope it is a call to arms. unless you think your governor christie legislature or mayor or school board were largest employer in your county are in forever will be above reproach and scrutiny, you should support local and regional journalism. [applause] lastnally, i would everyone in this room who cover the white house in any capacity to please stand. resident of past the white house correspondents association, please stand. if you are a student journalist, please stand. thank you for everything you do and have done and will do. [applause] >> thank you.

finally, i know some of you think i went too far in the past eight months or so, and some of you think i've not gone far enough. to those of you who have worked to hold me accountable with any device or thoughtful criticism, thank you, really, thank you. to those of you watching here or on television, thank you as well. please enjoy the rest of your evening. [applause] >> good evening. each year, the white house correspondents association is pleased to award nearly two dozen scholarships to promising undergraduate and graduate journalism students. in partnership with 12 universities across the country to promote the next generation

of journalists. please welcome our 2019 scholarship winners. [applause] [cheers and applause]

>> please hold your applause until we announce them individually. university.te university -- george washington university, matthew lee. howard university for the -- also from ship university. from iowa state university.

from northwestern university. >> also from northwestern university. before ohio university. university of california berkeley. from the university of maryland. from the university of missouri.

dditionally, the trust and reporting cup scholarship is arizona state university and grambling state university, unfortunately winner could make to the dinner. join us in giving us a round of 2019 se for the scholarship winners. -- applause. all right, we have some journalism awards here. these are uniquely challenging journalist for many reasons. ut challenging times have produced some truly exceptional journalism, journalism dedicated idea that great reporting facts without fear or favor. great reporting is not the

anything, it is the advocate for truth. anys the opposition only to act that would distort or deny or destroy the truth. that in mind, we have our journalism awards. each year a panel of judges ellen sheer of the great mcdill school of journalism, the white house correspondents organization recognizes some of the year's journalism. these awards recognize individual achievement but i this believe especially year, these are, this is achievement that we can all take in.ide beckman rst, the aldo award for presidential news coverage recognizes a who personifies the journalistic excellence as well as the personal qualities beckman, the award winning correspondent for the

a former ribune" and president of the white house correspondents association. aldo beckman award mckay compton of "the atlantic." [cheers and applause] >> so mckay, i want to read a judges.bit from the i love this, i love this description. they say reading mckay's stories is sheer joy, amazing storytelling. key players in the trump administration, the judges right, were impossible to together a lot of detail to create complex our aits that increased understanding of the current administration. so mckay. congratulations. [applause] >> by the way, honorable mention

ashley parker at of the "washington post." up, the mayor man smith award. it honors presidential news deadline nder pressure. is in memory of mayherman smith international. excellent thatte he brought to the pro figures. it is given in two categories, and print. now the herman smith award for goes to someone who's tireless commitment to great recognized sobeen many times that i think he spot on a permanent this stage. the merriman smith award for print goes to josh dawsey of the

"washington post." [cheers and applause] >> specifically, it is for josh's story, and this is an exact quote from the headline of his story -- trump derides protections for immigrants from shithole countries. [laughter] >> i'm sorry, mom, those are not my words. from the judges -- josh dawsey relied on multiple sources for his exclusive report on language used by president trump in a meeting on immigration with members of the senate. he worked on deadline but added context and detail as he worked on the story. his entry epitomizes the criteria for the merriman smith award -- speed, accuracy, objectivity and initiative. so the merriman smith award, to the great josh dawsey. [applause]

all right, the merriman smith goes to ed oadcast henry of fox news. [cheers and applause] award for an interview that remember -- simmer down. this is big. for ed henry's interview with administrator scott pruitt. he was already in trouble for he sat downers when for an interview with ed henry at fox news and he probably got not terview that he did expect to get. henry, in the words of the washington post, lobbed question after question at pruitt to ask him about big pay increases for cronies and a sweetheart deal for renting an apartment from a lobbyist. pruitt struggled to answer and

soon found himself out of a job. henry was prepared, the judge is right -- the judges write -- knew his facts and marshalled them for a penetrating interview, which made news, all under deadline pressure. ed henry. [cheers and applause] honorable mention for the merriman smith award for broadcast goes to cnn for its coverage of the confirmation vote of brett kavanaugh. [applause] and finally, one more, the edgar a. poe award honors excellence in news coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance, written

with fairness and objectivity. it is in honor of edgar a. poe. a long-term correspondent for the new orleans times picayune in the former white house correspondents association president. in selecting the recipient, the judges looked for excellence in stories with fairness and objectivity. so, the edgar allan poe award goes to "ambushed at home," by joshua schneyer, michael pell, andrea januta and deborah nelson of reuters. [applause] the judges write -- the pentagon had hoped to improve base housing through privatization, but after 20 years, reuters fund military families in "slum-like squalor" with high levels of lead, vermin, mold, leaking ceilings and foul water. using data, meticulous record

searches and reporting with often reluctant sources, the report showed endangered families with little recourse lookedilitary that often the other way and private investors who profited. for reuters. [cheers and applause] >> one last honorable mention so the edgar a poe award goes to cost" by the weather channel and telemundo. thank you, thank you to our judges, and congratulations to

the winners! [applause] at this point, there is no way you are not sick of hearing me talk, so i will keep it short. when i run for this position in 2016, i told one and all but i thought it was time we reset the focus more squarely on journalism and a little more on the men and women who help to hold the most powerful institution in american life to count. i have tried to keep that promise and as part of that i have invited someone who doesn't need much of an introduction. i will simply say that i learned in the process of doing this but he not only has been featured three times in the new york times crossword puzzle and one-time in jeopardy. his latest book "grant" on the 18th president was published in 2017 and spent four months in the bestseller list. the new york times, it was named

one of the 10 best books of the year, saying "the book cements chernow's reputation as america's preeminent historic biographer." you know about a little book called "hamilton," maybe. i didn't tell him what to say, i told him roughly how long he had to say it. please join me in welcoming ron chernow. [applause] ron: thank you for that lovely introduction. i confess that i was surprised i received the invitation to speak here tonight. approachingwere not e as an international sex symbol, right? then he told me, they wanted to

try boring at this year's dinner, and i said, i can deliver on that, big-time. [applause] [laughter] now you're talking my language. so here i am currently a 20 minute sedative for the evening. [laughter] it is nice to see such a healthy turnout tonight. as you all know, on tuesday the president let it be known he wanted members of his of ministration to stay away. at first i was puzzled by this news but then i learned that rumor was circulating in washington but i was going to be reading aloud from the redacted portions of the mueller report, and everything was explained. [laughter] [applause] ron: of course, there has been some squawking from the comedians, and i'm sorry about that. frankly, i thought those folks would have a little more of a sense of humor about my selection. after all, they are comedians. but we need them now more than ever during this surreal interlude in american life. as will rogers once observed, people are taking their

comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke, and that certainly describes our topsy-turvy moment. [laughter] [applause] i sincerely hope the comics will be back for many more star turns in the future. meanwhile, it is always fun for a serious historian to stand in the crossfire of an active war zone. when asked what the atmosphere would be like at this dinner, he replied, oh, the roman colosseum. being a dutiful historian, i thought i should research my audience. so i picked up a copy of henry gibson's great play, enemy of the people. i hadn't realized the president was a student of norwegian literature. did you know that. [laughter] the drama takes place in a small norwegian town but close to the discovery of mineral springs will turn the sleepy backwater into a thriving spa. the hero discovers that the

miraculous springs are actually polluted and breeding typhoid and other diseases. in his naïveté, he imagines the townspeople are gathering to applaud him as their savior from this calamity. then he discovers, the truth is a political commodity defined by the town's business interests. and he is prosecuted for truth telling. his house is stoned. his windows are shattered. angry mobs brand him as an enemy of the people. the next time you are dubbed an enemy of the people, please think of the term in the norwegian sense and where it as a badge of honor. [applause] i am delighted tonight. we now have to fight hard for basic truths we once took for granted. we gather here in perfect security because of a little piece of parchment called the bill of rights.

the paper barrier stands between the free press and executive tyranny. its author, james madison, was a tiny man who probably would have not gotten past the bouncers in ballroom and his low voice would have scarcely projected podium.s so fervently that he believe in these 10 amendments, he didn't want them tacked onto the end of the constitution as they were an afterthought, he wanted them woven straight into the original text. in the 10 landmark amendments, madison consider the first indispensable. founders, he regarded the free press as a cornerstone of democracy. jefferson famously said, if he was to choose between a government without newspapers or government,ithout a he would unhesitatingly prefer latter. [applause] 6 ron: the first amendment was not

written for the exclusive use of saints and choirboys, nor was it granted only for good behavior, some right n noted ruefully, the right of stupidity by the u.s. constitution. that became clear during george washington's first term in office. as best i can tell, washington committed only one major blunder as president. he failed to put his name on ount vernon and bungled a rare opportunity at landing. [laughter] [applause] clearly deficient in the art of the deal, the poor man had to settle for the lowly title of father of his country. a very sad story. [laughter] [applause] ron: the press of the early republic was as ferociously partisan as anything we see today. in that golden age of character assassination, writers murdered reputations while hiding behind roman pseudonyms.

washington became the victim of the most preposterous slander when the opposition press charged that he had been a secret british agent during the revolutionary war. obviously, the british have gotten a poor return on their investment. [laughter] ron: some of the most blistering attacks came from an unexpected source, his secretary of state, thomas jefferson, that hired a poet as state department translator. perfectly qualified for the translator job except for one small detail. knew one single forelanguage. in truth, jefferson had recruited to fund a party organ called the national gazette that would publish slashing broadsides against the very president that jefferson served. philip performed his task with such malicious gusto that he is to drop off copies of his incendiary paper on washington's doorstep every day. it is hard to convey the anguish

that seized washington's mind as he reeled from press criticism. one day, the journalist printed a cartoon showing washington he beheaded a la louis xvi. french the period of revolution. jefferson recorded washington's rage. the president got into one of those passions that he cannot command himself and said that he thought he would become the distributor of the newspapers, a very 18th-century form of chutzpah, eh? [laughter] despite this extreme provocation, washington honored the first amendment saying these a ls must be placed in position from the infinite free ts resulting from a press. like every future president, washington felt maligned and misunderstood by the press, but he never turned that into a vendetta against the institution.

[applause] in fact, when he wrote -- he never delivered it in person, he had it printed in the newspapers digest it and d consider it. my main theme here tonight is that relations between presidents and the press are inevitably tough, almost always adversarial, but they don't need to be steeped in venom. [applause] our founders were highly literate, perhaps none more so than one alexander hamilton, and immigrant who arrived, thank the country was full. [laughter] [applause] ron: i frankly don't know why they let the guy in, clearly somebody had slipped up at the southern border. [applause] now hamilton was a human word machine.

one columbia university press published 27 seconds volumes of his collected papers, the editor used to joke that he wanted to dedicate the entire edition without his , cooperation, this project would completed.been hamilton had a flourishing career as a journalist as well as government official, funding the new york post long before it's page six incarnation. now, when writing the federalist papers, he cranked out as many as five or six essays per week. and this, mind you, was a full-time -- with a full-time legal practice. he was doing this as a sideline. he would be writing the final parts of the essay as a printer was waiting in the office ready to rush the latest installment into print. after leaving as treasury secretary, he took to the newspapers to defend a treaty with england. he wrote one set of essays under

the pen name, then he launched a parallel series under another pen name. the second pen name, heaped extravagant praise against the first pen name, both in mutual admiration of one alexander hamilton. during the administration of john adams, the country lurched into a period of reaction and made a war scare with france and a rampant fear of foreigners. congress enacted the alien and sedition act which made it a crime for journalists to write about the president in a scandalous or malicious fashion. in this dark moment, jefferson, with his faith in the people prophesied -- with a little patience, we shall see the rain which has passed, their spells dissolved. let it be noted, that because of his anti-press record, john adams not only lost his

reelection campaign, but his jeffersonian opponents reigned supreme for the next quarter century. campaigns against the press don't get your face carved into the rocks at mount rushmore. when you chip away at the press, you chip away at democracy. [applause] history does not deal with presidents will punish the free press. people now say that we are fighting for the soul of america, but folks, we have always been fighting for the soul of america. we have always fallen short of the hallowed ideals enshrined in our founding documents. america has always been a work in progress, a perpetual journey of freedom with no final destination, and it is forced to each new generation to renew and discover our country's lofty promise. dr. martin luther king jr. said memorably that the moral arc of

the universe bends toward justice that not in a smooth or unbroken line. our precious republic feels fragile even perishable at the moment, and after the shooting at the synagogue in san diego today, our civil society feels fragile as well. i shudder at the sheer savagery to which washington politics is descended. but we have also seen the wisdom of our constitution at work with a boldly assertive press, an independent judiciary, and a rejuvenated congress providing checks on executive power. we are being tested, fiercely tested. but i like to think that will prevail. history shows that in the short run, the american people can be swept up in all sorts of misguided things. think scottsboro, think japanese internment camps. think joe mccarthy.

but in the long run, democracy endures. [applause] during the civil war, we battled each other not with ballots, but with battalions. we slaughtered 750,000 of our fellow citizens, maiming millions more. amputees hobbled through every american town. bloody he end of that conflict, a chase and but still abraham lincoln sat in a irginia camp fire with his chief general ulysses s grant secretaryn quoted his of state william seward as always just was nough of virtue in this republic to save it. sometimes none to spare, but still enough to meet the emergency. like lincoln, i believe devoutly in that saving remnant of grace in our country. we have fought horrific wars, weathered massive depressions, and and or the unspeakable cruelty of slavery and jim crow. america has always been at its greatest not when it blustered,

but when it admitted its mistakes and sought to overcome them. [applause] let me move on to the presidents and the press in the 20th century. back in the days of william mckinley, there was no white room, just a long table for reporters on the second floor. as one journalist complained -- it is part of the law of the white house that newspaper men shall never approach of the president as he passes unless he himself stops and talks to them. a rather royal conception of the presidency with no shouted questions allowed. those are innocent days. eporters shielded the private lives of presidents. let me tell you how warren harding got the republican nomination in 1920. party bosses summoned him to the proverbial smoke-filled room in chicago, and asked him point-blank if he had any damaging personal issues they should know about.

now harding, a married man, drank heavily and gambled freely. he had had a 15-year affair with his best friend's wife, and he had a mistress and an illegitimate baby right there in chicago. in fact, his young mistress sat in the balcony of the convention enjoying the speeches. but he assured the party bosses that he could not think of a single personal problem to worry about. [laughter] and he got it. grow rse, the press would bigger and more intrusionive as he century progressed and the relations with the white house more grow ever acrimonious. even more it may seem wistful and naïve and a touch quixotic, i would like to keep alive the memory of more civil relations between the presidency and the media. at this moment in american politics, we must recall that civility has been an essential lubricant in our democratic

culture and that our best presidents have handled the press with wit, grace, charm, candor and even humor. after mckinley's informality, ted roosevelt proved to be a virtuoso with the press. the prolific author of 45 devoured a book a day in the white house and retain all of them. one novelist who brought a book to dinner was amazed the president had read it by breakfast the next morning. such a literate president enjoyed a natural affinity with the press corps. t.r. devised a ritual called the barbers hour in which reporters would cluster around him as he shaved.g the babbling president would spout a never ending stream of while his poor barber bobbing and weaving with his to shave t.r.ried without splitting the

presidential throat. [laughter] calvin coolidge was president in the 1920's, he inaugurated the press's regularly scheduled conferences. reporters had to file their questions in advance. cal sat behind his desk index cards. retorted how did they know? [laughter] press relations only worsened with coolidge's successor, herbert hoover. mired in the great depression and his own personal gloom, even his own secretary of state bemoaned that conversing with hoover was like sitting in a bath of ink. the president hired a hapless press secretary who proved so unpopular that one reporter quipped -- it was the first known instance of a rat joining a sinking ship. [laughter] ron: when franklin was about

came into office, he swept away these restrictive rules and treated reporters, lo and behold, like grown-ups. we are not going to have anymore questions the president declared at his first press conference. of course, while i answered questions, i see no reason why i should not talk to you ladies and gentlemen off the record. please note the ladies and gentlemen. the 125 reporters packed into the oval office that day were so impressed by fdr's clear, straightforward rules, that they gave him a standing ovation at the end. the first and undoubtedly last time that would ever happen. [laughter] ron: in the end, fdr conducted nearly 1000 press conferences, not to mention 30 fireside

chats. even eleanor roosevelt held her own press conferences, where she invited only female reporters. [cheers and applause] ron: right on. this put a tremendous boon to women journalists across the country. even the highest publishers realized they were forced to hire women journalists. [applause] ron: of course, when it came to wit and charm, john f. kennedy probably retired the prize. his memory reminds us how far a little self-deprecating humor can go. remember modesty? when a small boy asked him how he became a lawyer, he replied , it was absolutely involuntary, they sank my boat -- my boat. in 1958, then senator kennedy was being touted as a presidential hopeful, but he was shattered by scurrilous rumors that his rich father would buy the race. so jfk drew a slip of paper from his pocket and proudly announced that he had a telegram from his generous daddy. he read aloud -- dear jack, don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. i'll be damned if i am going to pay for a landslide. [laughter] press was enthralled when

jfk's president held his first presidential press conference in 1961. 60 million captivated viewers were glued to their tv sets, a record only eclipsed by the 70 million who watched the beatles' debut on the at sullivan show -- on the ed television -- ed sullivan show three years later in 1964. i have often wondered what the beatles's poll numbers would have look like in iowa and new hampshire that presidential year. [laughter] ron: ronald reagan was not a less sunny personality, he was a master of media relations. when he became president, he said, most of the time the overwhelming majority of reporters do a fine job. and as a former reporter, i know just how tough their job can be. nevertheless, reagan had a sometimes bumpy relationship with the press. on march 30, 1981, he was shot and nearly killed outside of this very hotel, the washington hilton, as he was about to duck into his limousine. a bullet lodged within one inch of his heart.

reagan was scheduled to speak at, yes, the white house correspondents dinner. so he telephoned in this line instead, quote -- if i can give you just a little bit of advice, when someone tells you to get into a car quick, do it. [laughter] ron: that was a touch of class that has been sorely missing in our political culture in recent years. it was a subtle reminder that whether republicans or democrats, we are all bona fide members of team usa and not members of enemy camps. [applause] ron: ok. i know that i am wallowing in nostalgia here and ignoring less savory moments of these and other presidents. richard nixon forced himself to go to dinners like this where he had to hobnob with reporters who had written exposes of him. in the spring of 1971, nixon

followed the advice of his press secretary and decided to play the good sport at the white house correspondents dinner. his gesture evidently did not impress the media. after his next press conference, nixon grumbled privately -- the reporters were considerably more bad mannered and vicious than usual. this bears out my theory that treating him with more content is a better policy. [laughter] ron: when nixon hosted a party for pow families and felt bathed in female admiration, he thought his masculine appeal insufficiently acknowledged in the subsequent press coverage. the god damned new york times and the washington about,"uld be writing he growled, "i am going to kick

their asses around the block." such presidential eloquence, shall we ever hear its like again? don't answer. [laughter] ron: of course, the one who ended up getting his ass kicked around the block was you know who. you folks in the media writer the early draft of history, and we historians the later ones. your work as color to our sagas. i know how you feel to have the mistrust of the electorate. you do noble work in a democracy at a time when a rising tide of misinformation masquerading as news threatens to make a mockery of the first amendment. [applause] ron: there are so many journalistic fakes and forgeries out there that the genuine article can become devalued and debased. you must also deal with the pervasive world of social media, with self-appointed pundits, who out news outlets that only strengthen their preconceived views. still, it is good to dedicate yourself to the high standards

of accuracy and integrity. donald j. trump is not the first and will not be the last american president to create jitters about the first amendment. so, be humble, be skeptical, and byare of becoming infected the very things you are fighting against. [applause] ron: the press is a powerful weapon that must be fired with reluctance and aimed with precision. warren buffett says, always take the high road, it is far less crowded there. [laughter] in some days in washington, let's face it, a high-minded politician can sail along the upper roadway for hours without spotting another car. [laughter] ron: you folks should always heirs to ayou are grand crusading tradition that dates back to ida b. wells exposing the horrors of lynching. [applause] ron: to jacob riis, the misery of manhattan slums. to ida tarbell, the machinations

of standard oil, upton sinclair on the scandalous meatpacking industry. rachel cars and the dangers of pesticide. woodward and bernstein exposing watergate, and the new york times and washington post publishing the pentagon papers. [applause] ron: this is a glorious tradition and you folks are part of it. we can't have politicians trampling on it with impunity. [cheers and applause] ron: i am sorry to report i have not finished. [laughter] ron: hl mencken once one of a

-- once said we are part of a political system that would keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. we simply cannot allow the press to become an imaginary hobgoblin exploited for political gain. the thing that troubles me most is the sustained assault on truth, at least a couple of your disregard of it. both here and by autocratic regimes abroad. areohn adams said, "fax stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. facts do the hard marching and should wear no ideological coloring. without the facts, we cannot have agreements in our badly divided nation. --e portly, without the fact more importantly, without them, we cannot have an honest disagreement. i implore any president who aspires to the noble prize for peace, but we don't want one in the running for the noble prize for fiction. [applause] ron: ulysses s grant was not a

flawless president, but he was a stickler for the truth. one day in the white house, he was busy when a stranger called, knowing grant -- stranger called. occupied, an was aide informed the usher, tell the guest he is out. grant said, don't tell them that. tell him i am engaged, and must be excused. i never lie for myself, and i don't want anyone to lie for me. that is a powerful example and one that every president should emulate. we have seen past administrations threaten the directly, but what is happening today is perhaps more insidious a relentless campaign , against the very credibility of the news media. even the smartest courtroom lawyers cannot defend the press against such a vague and sweeping attacks. you folks can only preserve that hard-won credibility one way,

with solid, fair-minded, accurate and energetic reporting. [applause] ron: since i have cruelly deprived you of a comedian tonight, i thought i would end with some pertinent quotes from mark twain, who cast his satirical eye on washington folly. he said, "the political and commercial morals of the united states are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet." [laughter] --: and i love this quote "sometimes i wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. -- it." he could be scathing about capitol hill, saying, "there is no distinctly native american criminal class except for congress." he could be equally savage about presidents, saying, "the united

states is never content to have a chief magistrate of gold when tin."ld have one of as we head into another election season, i leave you with one final gem from twain. "politicians and diapers must be changed often and for the same reason." good night, and god bless america. [applause] [cheers and applause] olivier: at this slightly awkward segue to my point that john carl is succeeding me, i would like to thank you all for coming tonight. i hope you are wearing your pin with pride.

thank you very much. it has meant much to me. my term ends in july but it is customary considering the president a lame duck at this point. thank you, everyone, thank you to this board and thank you to all the members. all of you who came out tonight, have a lovely night. [cheers and applause] [indistinct conversations] >> c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. sunday morning, the young turks

post and founder talks about the progressive movement and camping 2020. matters, aack guns discussion on the prevention in the african american community. be sure to watch "washington journal" sunday morning. join the discussion. reed,"newsmakers," ralph chairman of the faith and freedom coalition, talks politics, the 2020 presidential race, the role of conservatives, president trump's chances for reelection, and his thoughts on impeachment. c-span.rs, tomorrow on "q&a," david brooks on his book "the second mountain." >> estimate -- i have met by so

many people who are motivated to live in the right relationship with each other and do good. theyis hard for them, don't have a lot of money, but they lead very inspiring lives. >> david brooks, sunday night on "q&a." wednesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern, attorney general william barr will testify before the senate judiciary committee about the motor report. 9:00 a.m. eastern, he will testify before the house oniciary committee live c-span3, c-span.org, and listen on the three c-span radio app. >> the lawyers committee for civil rights under law posted this discussion on hate crimes and a rise in white supremacist attacks in the u.s. since the 2016 election. this is 90 minutes. >>